Reaching the 42nd Floor of the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa gets you that much closer to making the trek up Mt. Baldy in the Cimarron range of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. (Photos by Kim Fatica)

Ask just about any Boy Scout what his ultimate Scouting experience would be and he’ll most likely tell you a trip to Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, NM. Philmont is 214 square miles of rugged, historical terrain located in the Sangre de Cristo mountains. Scouts taking part in a 12-day trek get to backpack through the Cimarron range, shoot black powder rifles, learn blacksmithing, enjoy a real chuckwagon feast, try their hand at panning for gold, and many other memorable activities.

Depending on the trek program, boys and their adult leaders can log as many as 104 miles in those 12 days, so conditioning is key. Our local contingent began regular, organized group training Saturday morning for their late June trek of 78 miles that includes a hike up Baldy Mountain (also known as Mt. Baldy), with an elevation of 12,441 feet.

You aren’t going to find much elevation in Florida for training, and trekking up Iron Mountain in the Lake Wales Ridge is a little inconvenient for a Scout troop in the city. But there is the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa; forty-two stories of torture for your hamstrings, quadriceps, calf muscles, and your butt.

A one-mile warm-up hike from the church to downtown Tampa got the boys ready to tackle an iron mountain of sorts: the Bank of America building stair climb.

Scouts from Troops 22, 142 and 180 began their warm-up with a brief urban hike from Hyde Park United Methodist Church in to downtown Tampa, crossing the Hillsborough River and heading over to the Bank of America building. Some carried partially-filled backpacks, a few wore hiking boots, others wore tennis shoes, and almost all carried water or an electrolyte drink. The mood was pretty light getting there, and nearly everyone had a good pace on the warm-up hike.

I was impressed that some of the boys thought of ways to make the otherwise droll sidewalk slog a little interesting passing through the urban jungle.

Walking up and down the Crosstown bridge abutments simulated off-camber trails.

As we went under the Selmon Crosstown overpass, some of the boys went up the sloped concrete abutment, simulating an off-camber trail they will most likely encounter while at Philmont. Of course, I know full well they weren’t thinking of simulating off-camber trails; they were simply relieving boredom, but it was still a great way to make the trek more interesting.

Once in the office tower, Troop 22 Committee Chairman Jay Gadsby, a MetLife employee who works in the Bank of America building, guided the boys down to the basement for a little instruction and inspiration before the climb.

Gadsby is a regular stair climber who has won the annual stair challenge in his building. He recommends pacing and alternating between doing one-step flights and two-steps-at-a-time flights to get that great muscle burn. He is also an advocate of good stretching. The boys chuckle. The adults look uncertain. This will be a challenge, especially for some of us who are in the over-50 group, which includes all of us but Gadsby, the kid among the adults.

The boys are cut loose and the challenge begins. The steep ascent doesn’t appear to be much of a challenge for some boys. My Senior Patrol Leader son, Noah, with two of his fellow Scouts, Keiler and Robbie, bounded up the stairs. All three lithe and fit 15-year-old boys were gone before the rest of the crew got to the Second Floor. Pretty soon the dull pounding from trudging feet resonated throughout the stairwell. Chatter was plentiful.

It wasn’t long before the steely ascent claimed its first victims. A father-son duo, out of breath, took a stop around the 10th Floor. I continued on, making my first stop at the halfway point, on 21. Not bad, I thought, for someone who is carrying about 25 extra pounds. Around my middle…

Three of the older Scouts found the climb to be pretty easy for them.

The next casualty was a 15-year-old, an Eagle Scout who was a good two or three inches taller and about 20 pounds heavier than my 6-1 son. I was surprised he was having difficulty. He looked like he could carry me on his back with little effort. I and my artificial right hip pressed on. (I forgot to mention that I had a hip arthroplasty in 2008. Thank you, Cleveland Clinic, it’s working great!)

Ten more flights and I’m feeling the burn by now. I’m drenched in sweat, but it’s not enough to put out the fire in my hamstrings and hips. I stopped to replenish my electrolytes. I’m almost there. I’m not racing, I’m pacing, though it’s hard not to feel a bit embarrassed that the kids are already making their descent. At least I don’t feel like I’m going to die. The strapping Eagle Scout who caught his breath a few flights back has now caught me. We continue moving up and on.

The last dozen floors weren’t as bad as I expected. Gadsby is up there, on the 42nd Floor landing, encouraging us. He’s worried about me, since I got the bionic hip and the spare tire for a John Deere tractor around my waist. I’m schlepping 213 pounds on my average 5-9 framework. You figure out the BMI. Luckily for me, I had been an avid cyclist, so my lungs and legs are my assets. As I used to tell my kids, “You can’t hurt steel…coated by a little bit of rubber.”

My Eagle Scout companion and I finally reach the roof and touch the steel door as affirmation that we went all the way. Gadsby is grinning while the two of us look like we’ve run through a garden hose. The completion is gratifying, the sip of my champagne-like fruit punch electrolyte drink is refreshing, but it’s time to head back down to the basement.

Adult leader and Eagle Scout Dave Roberson is there in the basement, ready to head up eight more floors to make it an even 50. What the heck is eight more floors? Gadsby and I follow Roberson’s lead for an even 50–one for each of my years.

The cool-down phase included a trip up the parking garage ramp to the 14-story parking deck.

Gadsby then suggests a great warm-down exercise: Taking the parking garage ramp all the way up to the top of the 14-story parking deck. There are some groans as one body was sprawled along the lobby floor and others sought air flow from the air conditioning vent near the entryway doors. The security guards, stone-faced, were no doubt trying hard to keep a straight face.

An early Saturday morning during a holiday weekend meant the garage was all ours and a much safer alternative than trying it during the weekday while people are speeding through, attempting to make it to their next business appointment. The slope up the garage ramp was easy and there was a great breeze to help aid in bringing our core body temps down. Easy as it was, everyone could feel a tightness coming on.

Some of the Scouts and leaders from Troops 22, 142 and 180 pose for their summit portrait atop the 14-story Bank of America parking deck. We're sure the view from the top of Baldy will be much more scenic.

A gorgeous morning atop an urban parking deck won’t be quite the same as the exhilarating view from Mount Baldy, or the completion of the 78-mile itinerary planned for our contingent. The training for Philmont to this point has been individual, but it was clear that the suggested regiment prior to a Philmont trek had been loosely followed. After scaling our urban mountain Saturday morning, we’ll be looking for the next challenge: Getting up Sunday morning.

(Follow the crew’s actual trip and find helpful information to prepare for your own Philmont trek by starting with this link: The 12 Days of Philmont.)

About This Blog

Kim Fatica is a marketing professional and former Emmy Award-winning television photojournalist and operations manager originally from Cleveland, Ohio. He’s also a lifelong volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America, where he’s been involved with the program since he was a Cub Scout in 1970. He earned his Eagle Scout rank in 1976 and continued on in service as an adult leader, currently serving as an assistant scoutmaster for Troop 22 in Tampa.

He lived his dream of backpacking through the Sangre de Cristo mountain range with his son, Noah, at the Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. The 12-day trek during the summer of 2012 took them on a memorable 80-mile journey that went through areas near the historic Santa Fe Trail.

Kim earned his undergraduate degree in Journalism and Mass Communications from Bowling Green State University and holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from the Florida Institute of Technology.